100 Best Makeup Buys

The regular readers of my blog know that I heart Paula Begoun.  I know that no one person can be your source for skin care & beauty product recommendations, but she is one of my go to sources whose opinion I value.  Paula has a website (Beautypedia) that you can pay to join, which offers the most up to date skin care & product reviews, similar to what you would find in her 'Don't go to the cosmetics counter without me' books.  

Paula and her Cosmetics Cop team have just released their 100 Best Makeup Buys report, where they offer their opinions on the best foundation, powders, mascara, blush, bronzers, etc.  I always get a bit of a thrill when I see products I like/use on these lists, like somehow it validates my purchases, ridiculous isn't it?  

Anyway, check out the article here! 

Some ideas to keep your lips soft & kissable!

Doesn't everyone appreciate a good lip product?  I know I can never have enough lip balms, scrubs, moisturizers.  I love them all, even though some work better than others.  Here are some of my gift suggestions for yourself or others on your Christmas list! 

Kiehl's Lip Balm 

Temporarily protects and helps relieve chapped or cracked lips. Helps protect lips from the drying effects of wind and cold weather.  This was about $12CAD in the store but lists for $7USD on the Kiehl's website.  They also have scented & tinted lip balms available.  I use this whenever my lips are at their worst & it always works well for me. 

Lush Bubble Gum Lip Scrub

These are made with exfoliating castor sugar and vegan flavouring to gently scrub away rough skin and keep your lips smooth and soft.   There are a few flavours you can check out on Lush.ca, but bubble gum is my favourite, the smell is to die for!  $8.95CAD for a 25g jar.   


Blistex Deep Renewal Lip Balm

Deep renewal is said to be an anti-aging lip treatment that's clinically proven to reduce visible signs of again and deliver superb moisturization.  I really find it an effective lip balm & bonus..it has SPF 15.  About $4CAD in most drugstores.  

Balmshell Lip Gloss

BALMSHELL’s high formula contains lanolin oil, jojoba oil & no artificial preservatives. Perfume-free, BALMSHELL is slightly flavored with a hint of natural fruity vanilla. 

Each shade is packaged in a unique tube that contains a floating illustration with a cute story line. When you are finished with the gloss you can attach it to a complimentary keychain component, allowing you to keep the artwork.  Check out their website here, about $20CAD each. You can also find them at Shoppers Drug Mart beauty bars. These are adorable!

Smith's Rosebud Salve

I received the Strawberry version of this balm in my stocking last year.  At the time I knew nothing about this product.  It has now become one of those items that I will always own.  I use it every night before I go to bed & I love it.  It has a soft pink tint to it and a lovely smell, not to mention my lips are so soft when I wake up in the morning.  They have now come out with a tube form of this popular lip salve, which I will personally use more when I'm out and about.   The boy got mine at Sephora last year for approximately $10CAD.  For more information you can check out their website here.

Hope you enjoy these suggestions, let me know if you try any of them!

Cool stocking stuffer & gift ideas!

Sephora Collection Boo Boo Bling In Clear, Hot Pink, Black, And Purple

Give these to your most fabulous friends—they can turn their ouchies into fashion statements with these jeweled bandages. Each Boo Boo Bling is customizable and comes with a bandage pad and jewels to match.

NARS Little Darling Lipstick (Limited Edition)

Consider this lip hue a throwback to the Mad Men era — the nude lip complements any skin tone. Bonus: This one is great for blending, too.

The Gap flower ballet slipper

Cozy ballet slippers--perfect for chilly nights and lazy mornings. 

S.O.S Lotion- coconut kiss

Dry, chafed skin magically vanishes when a tried and true potion of macadamia nut oil, sesame seed oil and wheat germ oil starts to mollycoddle your needy skin. 

Many scents to choose from but this one might trick you into thinking you were just on the 

beach!

You can buy online at Barefoot Venus or find stores in your area that carry their line. 

Who wouldn't love to find any of these items under the tree or in their stocking!  

I finally got it - Lorac Perfectly Lit powder in Spotlight

I will take a minute to rave about one of the best things I got on my trip.  Some of you might remember that I blogged about wanting the Lorac Perfectly lit powder in Spotlight a while back.  (read original post here) 

Well I got it in my Glitz & Glam kit from Sephora.  I knew that I wanted a few things in this kit so I decided that I would buy this rather than full sizes of a few products I had never tried.  

Oh and it is all that I thought it would be and more.  This powder is very finely milled and goes on like a dream.  I apply it with a small flat top brush, but any small powder or blush brush would do well.  I have worn it both under & over both liquid and powder foundation and it gives you a beautiful 'glow' no matter how you wear it.  My favourite result so far, was over top of my primer and underneath my mineral make-up.  It looked beautiful  if I do say so myself.  Kind of that glow from within look.  This powder does not look sparkly or iridescent to me, rather just provides a nice youthful dewy sheen to your skin. 

It is not easy to get a picture of this...hope you can see it!

I know some people who have reviewed this powder say they use it all over their face.  I personally think that might be too much of a good thing.  I use it on my cheekbones & then sweep what is left on my brush down the bridge of my nose, beautiful! It is similar to the Hard Candy bronzer in Tiki, which is definitely cheaper and in my opinion is still worth trying.  But I think the Hard Candy bronzer has a bit more shimmer and isn't quite as fine as the Lorac.  

I will definitely be re-purchasing this powder in the full size.  Let me know if any of you have tried it!

This is the product description from the Sephora website, where it retails for $32:

Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder
What it is:
A silky, oil-free powder luminzer.

What it does:
Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder instantly puts your face in its best light, giving your skin a luminous Red Carpet glow. This oil-free, velvety powder brightens and evens, helping skin appear naturally radiant. This unique luminizing powder helps diminish the appearance of imperfections by optimizing the effect of light, for a youthful, luminous, glowing complexion.

What it is formulated WITHOUT:
- Sulfates
- Synthetic Fragrances
- Synthetic Dyes
- Petro-Chemicals
- Phthalates

Size: 0.34 oz

Florida Haul

In the spirit of shopping, I'm back with some details on what I bought in Florida, which by the way has some crazy gorgeous beaches and yachts that are bigger than anything I've seen in my life.  But I digress. 


Sephora Glitz & Glam kit  
This one had some items I couldn't resist!  There will be
a few posts on this kit and a rave of at least one item in here coming soon


Laura Mercier mineral powder foundation


Per-fekt Skin Perfection Gel primer/foundation
A total spur of the moment purchase, review coming


Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse foundation 
You can not get this yet where I live in Canada (that I've seen) & I've been curious to try it.  

OPI Nail Envy
This is one of my holy grail items and I got this for a steal! This is all I pretty much ever use on my fingernails.  In Canada this costs about $21-$22 a bottle, which is insane.  In the States it was $16.50 and I found a salon that was selling these as kits with lotion & cuticle gel for %50 $8.25 each, crazy!  So I of course got 3.  So exciting. 

Wet N Wild Holiday palettes

These eyeshadows are raved about on youtube & are apparently hard to find.  Imagine my excitement when I found them, review pending.

Revlon lip gloss in Peach Petal

I really was excited to find this as I've never been able to find it in Canada.  This is one of those colors that has been much talked about & is a light creamy color that goes well on top of just about anything.  So far, I'm loving it and wish I had bought two.  

Essence of beauty crease brushes

I bought these because of a recommendation by Emilynoel83.  They were under $5 for two of them.  I can take some more pictures & post them if anyone is interested but basically these are smaller crease brushes, which are great for applying crease or outer 'v' colors.  I really like them - and not just because Emily does too :)

Covergirl Trublend Mineral Blush in Shimmering Sands

I must have a thing for glowing, shimmering, etc. right now because I seem to be drawn to these types of things.  This is a huge container of product that was marked down to $4.99, likely being discontinued.  It's a very light peachy pink color that I haven't used enough to form an opinion about yet.  I will say I wish I could send you all a sample because I will never get through this by myself.  

Milani Powder Blush in Luminous

This is the lightest color they sell and appears goldish pink in the container.  I put it on & can only see gold, not at all pink or blush in color, it's very odd.  I don't think I'll grab for this that often, because it really isn't a blush.  

Milani Liquif'eye Eye liner

I've only used one of these, I bought both black & brown, review pending.


EOS lip balm in lemon
I thought you couldn't get these in Canada but apparently Shoppers is now carrying them, although I'm sure they were much cheaper in the States.  They are really nothing special, the hype is pretty much un-deserved in my opinion.  They do smell delicious though & are fun to try so if you can find them at a price you like, I say go for it. 

Vaseline Cocoa butter vitalizing gel body oil 
I had heard this was great for dry skin so I decided I had to have some for the winter, and better yet it has that wonderful coconut, beach scent.  You don't need much of this or you'll be feeling like a bit of a greaseball.

ELF items

I found a few things I don't want to detail too much here because they are stocking

stuffers for certain people who may be reading this.  I also picked up another $1 ELF total face brush as mine was showing some wear & tear.  I wish I could find the brushes in stores in Canada, would make life so much easier.  

Well that's enough rambling for now.  I also got some cute Vera Wang sunglasses, a purse, a ring and some clothes but enough already right? Let me know if you want reviews on anything here.  

I'm baaaaccck

Hello all!


So I'm back from my holiday down south.  Had perfect weather, indulged a little in some great food & did a bit of shopping.  Oh, and came home the day the weather turned to freezing blizzard like conditions...le sigh.  I've taken some pictures of my purchases & have some mini reviews but I've had serious motivation problems in posting them here.  I'm not sure why, but I'm hoping to find my motivation soon.  


Anyway, enough about that, here is a little tease of my purchases.  

I told myself that I wouldn't buy anything that I could get here in Canada, but that went out the window pretty quick.  The prices in the States for make-up are just so much cheaper than here, it's just not fair.  I did get some things though that I've been wanting & couldn't find here (hello Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse foundation).   Once I've used these products enough to form an opinion I'll post some reviews.  


Hope you all are well and will be patient with me as I slowly get back in to the blogging groove!

Going on a holiday!

Hi everyone, 

Just so you don't think I've disappeared, I'm just letting you know that I won't be posting for the next 10 days or so while I'm gone on holidays.  

I am heading to that magical land where you can get beauty products that you can't purchase here in Canada, and for much less money I might add!  (aka the States)  I hope not to spend too much money on products before Christmas, but we'll see how successful I am at that.

Talk to you all soon!

Beauty bargain alert - Holiday gift kits

Sorry this one is only for the Canadians out there.  Thought I'd pass along a possible gift idea for you.  From November 6th-12th you can get a fragrance sampler set for him or her, with 10 sample fragrances to try. Now these are the vial size samples but included in this set is a gift certificate for a full size bottle of the scent of their choice.  So they can try..decide, and then buy what they want.  Love it!  

Also if you purchase between these dates you get 20x the Optimum points. You might want to check it out for any fragrance lovers on your list, or if you don't know which perfume someone may like, as it takes the guess work out of it.  Pretty sweet!

Also check out Sephora's new 2010 holiday gift catalogue here. 

They have some awesome gift sets and great ideas for presents & stocking stuffers! You can't go wrong getting any of these for the product lover on your list.  Enjoy!

Beauty bargains - My top ten E.L.F. cosmetics part 2

Continuing on with my previous post (see part one here), here are the final five products in my top 10 E.L.F. list.  All product photos are once again taken from their website but are all products that I own. 

6)    Studio Blush $3.00

I have Tickled Pink and Candid Coral, both have great pigmentation so you don’t need much product to get a great result. Tickled pink is a nice flattering pink and close to what you’d imagine a color with this name to be.  Candid Coral is less coral than I thought & has quite a bit of pink in it but still lovely. Both have a slight shimmer but nothing overwhelming. The packaging of these blushes is so great, little window on top to see the color inside as well as a helpful little mirror inside.  Great little blushes. 

7)    Essentials Shimmering Facial Whip $1.00

I have Toasted – a brownish taupe color, Pink lemonade – a glossy pearly pink and Spotlight – a pearly white hue.  Comes in small easy to use tubes.  I use my fingers to blend these on the tops of my cheekbones or wherever you want a nice highlight. A little goes a long way so go easy.  I like to use the spotlight under my foundation for a nice glow.  Pink lemonade won a 2008 Allure best of beauty award but for my $1, Toasted is my favorite. 

8)    Essential Eye Shadow Brush $1.00

I can’t say enough great things about this eye shadow brush and how much I love to use it.  It is soft and just dense enough, packs on powder really well and I find myself reaching for it every day.  I need to get at least two more ‘just in case’ brushes.  You will love it, don’t hesitate to get it.

9)    Bath & Body body lotion in Vanilla Coconut $4.00

This lotion smells beyond amazing.  If you are into vanilla or coconut, or both, you must try this.  The lotion itself is quite thick but not so much that it doesn’t absorb well.  I love how my skin feels after I put it on and I love how I smell even more.  The smell doesn’t last forever but that just gives me a good excuse to re-apply.  I usually get tired of a lotion half way thru the bottle but not this one.  I’m almost done my first tube & have already bought a second.  If you want soft skin that smells great, try this.

10)    Studio Bronzers $3.00

What can I say, I love this bronzer.  I have the Golden, which is a shimmery blend of champagne, golden & bronze shades.  The shimmer is there but it’s not over the top, and happily it does not appear glittery on your face.  It is perfect to use as a highlight when swirled together or you can experiment with using each color on their own.  Fun to play with & gorgeous results. I plan on getting the other two color combinations & am really interested to try the cool bronzer, which is matte.  You can’t go wrong with this. 

  Given the prices it might be something you want to check out for Christmas gifts (yes it’s getting to be that time).  These would make great stocking stuffers or even a present for yourself.  For those new to their site, they always have some sort of sale or promotion ongoing, or you can google ELF coupon codes to find a deal. 

There are many other products I plan to try so you may not see your favorite E.L.F. product on this list.  The one downside with this company is their shipping.  They tend to be slow (at least 2 weeks to receive an order) and their shipping costs are high.  Just something to keep in mind when ordering, as you may want to combine an order with a friend to keep it more affordable. 

I’d be curious to hear what your top E.L.F. choices are, so please feel free to share.  

Beauty bargains - My top ten E.L.F. cosmetics part 1

For those of you who don't know about E.L.F. cosmetics, they offer some great inexpensive beauty products. Inexpensive but not cheap, important difference. I hadn’t even heard of this cosmetics company until this past spring (shock, gasp), but now I kind of feel like I’ve discovered something great.  

Most of their products range in price from $1 to $3, but don't be fooIed by that. I think a lot of people would discard the idea of buying such inexpensive make-up, assuming it couldn't be any good or it must be full of toxic cheap materials.  


All E.L.F. products are hypoallergenic and non-comodegenic; as well they do NOT test on animals or use any animal derived ingredients. Unlike some higher end brands, E.L.F. actually lists their product ingredients right on their website. They have also had several mentions in magazines including 'O', People, Seventeen, Redbook, Marie Claire & Allure, where some of their products have won Allure beauty awards.  


Their philosophy:

We at e.l.f. believe that innovative technology, quality ingredients and superb delivery systems should not be limited to prestige retailers. Every woman should have the opportunity to participate in innovation, without sacrificing her budget. We hope you agree and invite you to experience e.l.f.’s revolutionary, value-priced cosmetics and the proven results they offer.

This company is primarily sold online at eyeslipsface.com.  In Canada you can also find some of their products at Zellers & occasionally Homesense, but it is a very limited selection.  In the States I understand that Target carries some E.L.F. products, as well as the occasional dollar store.  


Since finding E.L.F., I’ve recommended it to many others and have already placed a few orders.  In fact I may be developing a problem. Anyway, I've seen a few of these best of blogs and videos & really enjoy them.  I've decided to share my top 10 E.L.F. picks, based on what I've tried so far. It was hard to narrow down my favorites to only 10, really hard, but I think I've finally decided on my list.  Given the amount of information, I’m going to break this up into two blog posts. 

So in no particular order, here are my first five favorite E.L.F. products (all pictures are taken from their website but are products I own):

1)    Studio Powder Brush $3.00

The hype on this brush is well deserved and all true.  It is a must have E.L.F. brush.  I use it primarily to buff and blend my liquid and powder foundations, but it is certainly not limited to that.  This brush is soft with a great density and I have had no issues with shedding.  Often sells out on their site, must must have.

2)    Essentials Brightening Eye Color $1.00

     I don’t hear as much hype about these eye quads as I think they deserve.  I have the quads in ethereal and brownstone.  The colors on the website are not particularly true to the actual product.  Website says they give your eyes an awakened brightness, which is very true.  Multi-functional, I use them on their own as well as under/over other shadows.   Packaging is a bit flimsy & the shadow size is fairly small...but hey it's $1.
 Try them!

3)    Essentials Super Glossy Lip Shine SPF 15 $1.00

     Beautiful little lip glosses. Excellent color payoff, these are surprisingly quite opaque.  My favorite colors so far are Candlelight & Pink Kiss.  Website pictures give a pretty accurate depiction of the true colors.  Not too sticky, smell like candy & the SPF is a bonus.  Beautiful on their own or over lipstick.  Gotta get at least one! 

4)    Mineral Booster powder $5 small .18 oz or $8 large .63 oz

 This is another under rated product in my opinion.  I have both the sheer & tinted powders.  The tinted is a little dark on it’s own so I usually mix the two together for a natural healthy glow.  I use it as a finishing powder, sets my make-up beautifully and makes my face appear flawless…or less flawed anyway.  They suggest using a Kabuki brush to apply this but you can also use the Studio Powder Brush with great results.  Try the small first to see if it works as well for you.

5)    Essential Shine Eraser $1.00

These are amazing little…well, shine erasers.  Oil absorbing & mattifying, these work great.  They are a little larger than similar products I’ve tried and I feel like they not only blot any excess oil but that they do something great for my skin.  One of the bests.

Stay tuned for part two, coming soon!